New Hampshire Roadtrip Recap

Well, I’m sitting down to write this on Thursday night, and I just now feel like I am catching up from being away for four days. I love travelling, but the disruption in normal routine is tough! Anyone else with me on this?? Anyways, here’s a recap on the whirlwind 4-ish days we spent in New Hampshire last week!

Thursday, October 5

After driving overnight Wednesday, and catching just a few zz’s at a New Jersey Turnpike Rest Stop (sorry, mom!), we made it to Massachusetts around breakfast time. Our favorite diner was unfortunately still in the middle of changing locations, due to a fire they had in early spring. If any of you guys frequent Framingham, MA, J&M Diner is a must! I believe they plan to re-open in a few weeks, so fingers crossed we can make it there when we are back up in December! Woo, quite the tangent, but J&M is worth the mention. IHOP did the trick instead, and I tried their pumpkin spice pancakes. I thought they were good, but not worthy of a visit just to try them.

We filled the rest of the morning with some window shopping and Starbucks. And guys, I finally found a coffee drink I enjoyed. I had an iced pumpkin chai latte with almond milk, which was just the right amount of sweet and spicy!

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We met with our officiant in the early afternoon, which was the reason we stayed in Massachusetts instead of heading up to New Hampshire that day. Father Lenny could not have been more welcoming, and I loved that he was wearing Birkenstocks! We are both so excited to have him marry us and know that it will be a very personal ceremony.

Later that evening, I met with a florist, whom I loved. I am still waiting on the final proposals, but I think we will choose to work with her. Once we decide, I’ll give you guys all the details on our floral plan!

Following that meeting, we just settled into my parent’s house, had a nice meal, and crashed relatively early. 3 hours of sleep will really do you in!

Friday, October 6

I woke up very excited this morning because we had a cake tasting on the books! Frederick’s Pastries is amazing and the samples did not disappoint. If we decide to use this bakery, our plan is to do two smaller cakes, one chocolate with chocolate and peanut butter filling, and one vanilla with raspberry filling. Wishing I had a piece now! The only issue we ran into was the delivery fee. Unfortunately, our venue is right on the border of the delivery zone, meaning the delivery charge is astronomical. To be honest, I don’t know if I want to trust a family member to grab the cakes instead. When we are back in New Hampshire for the holidays, we are planning to try a few more bakeries closer to our venue location.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with a few more florist appointments. Both were great, but I have a feeling they will be outside of our ideal budget. Who knew my taste in flowers was so expensive!

Friday evening, we met up with a few of our friends and it was so great to catch up! There is nothing like being able to sit next to a friend and chat, even though texting and Facetime are great substitutes. I can’t wait to go bridesmaid dress shopping with these girls in a few months!

Saturday, October 7

The majority of Saturday was spent hiking Mt. Monadnock, alongside what felt like most of New England’s residents. Mt. Monadnock is the most hiked mountain in the world, and it turns out, the Saturday of Columbus Day Weekend is the busiest day of the year! Despite this, the trail didn’t feel too crowded and where it was slower, it was a blessing. There are some very steep parts of the trail, which had me thankful for the time I spend on the stair master! The views were iffy, with on and off cloud cover, but it was a wonderful way to spend the first half of the day.

The grand finale of our quick trip was a family dinner at my parents! Somehow, in almost 4 years, Jarrett’s family and my family had never met. We were so excited that Jarrett’s mother and sister could come to dinner, and we were joined by my Grammy as well. All in all, it was a fun night spent talking about our life in Virginia and wedding plans, while eating so much food!

Sunday, October 8

The day began bright and early, as we woke up around 5am to head back to Virginia. The drive itself only took 11.5 hours, including a few stops for food or to switch drivers. That landed up back home with time to do a quick grocery run and settle in for the week ahead.

I was so grateful to be able to make this quick trip and see so many of our loved ones. We cannot wait to be back up around the holidays for a more extended stay!